The Time of the Doves by Mercè Rodoreda
I chose The Time of the Doves by Mercè Rodoreda for this week’s text. I found this book really interesting to read from Natalia’s perspective. I felt very sympathetic towards her because she was trapped in these circumstances with no way of escaping a man’s control. All her life she was passed from the possession of one man to another until her husband died and it only confirmed she needed a man to save her and provide for her. With no mother and an emotionally absent father, she had no way of seeing that breaking up with Pere and marrying Quimet was a bad decision.
Quimet’s character was irresponsible and selfish and created an unstable environment for Natalia and then the children. Quimet starts off by acting jealous toward the men in Natalia’s life like her boss and accusing Natalia of meeting her ex-fiancé Pere in the streets. Aside from his unpredictable personality, he was also unpredictable when it came to working, so not only did Natalia have to be the homemaker, but also had to seek work. The doves added to this misery not only by invading her home but adding to her workload. Natalia was becoming exhausted from all her responsibilities and had no outlet to express her feelings because Quimet would only get mad or start complaining about his leg. She also became so used to the name Colometa I think it only added to the unravelling of her individuality and further made her a possession to Quimet.
The war and the death of Quimet caused the downfall of this family. I thought Natalia’s decision of killing her children was out of mercy. She would rather take the three of their lives into her own hands rather than watch them suffer. As a woman in her situation, she did everything in her power to provide for her children. Natalia tried to work, sold all her possessions, and sent her son to the camp, but once everything was sold and Antoni came back, she was out of options. If the grocer had not come to Natalia’s aid, she would have gone through with it as it was the only thing left she had the power to control. My question for the class is could Natalia have changed her circumstances at any point after marrying Quimet or was it out of her control by then?
Quimet’s character was irresponsible and selfish and created an unstable environment for Natalia and then the children. Quimet starts off by acting jealous toward the men in Natalia’s life like her boss and accusing Natalia of meeting her ex-fiancé Pere in the streets. Aside from his unpredictable personality, he was also unpredictable when it came to working, so not only did Natalia have to be the homemaker, but also had to seek work. The doves added to this misery not only by invading her home but adding to her workload. Natalia was becoming exhausted from all her responsibilities and had no outlet to express her feelings because Quimet would only get mad or start complaining about his leg. She also became so used to the name Colometa I think it only added to the unravelling of her individuality and further made her a possession to Quimet.
The war and the death of Quimet caused the downfall of this family. I thought Natalia’s decision of killing her children was out of mercy. She would rather take the three of their lives into her own hands rather than watch them suffer. As a woman in her situation, she did everything in her power to provide for her children. Natalia tried to work, sold all her possessions, and sent her son to the camp, but once everything was sold and Antoni came back, she was out of options. If the grocer had not come to Natalia’s aid, she would have gone through with it as it was the only thing left she had the power to control. My question for the class is could Natalia have changed her circumstances at any point after marrying Quimet or was it out of her control by then?
"could Natalia have changed her circumstances?"
ReplyDeleteI think this is a good question: how much agency does she have? How much is she allowed? I think this is the reading I have of her decision to kill herself (and the kids): at this point it's about the only decision she can make. And yet she still doesn't do it! She's saved from agency, in part, by the grocer. Is this fair?